When there's no room left in hell, the dead shall walk the earth.

Josh could not recall where he had previously heard this quote, but it repeated in his mind endlessly. He was unsure what to make of this Greed character and the phases which he spoke of, but one thing was made certain: the first one was aptly named.

As Josh made his way to his previous “home", he had seen many atrocities not meant for this world. Most of this escaped him however, as he was lost in thought.

“I thought about it previously and devised many plans in my head, but can I actually kill them? I mean, is it acceptable for me to judge another human being? I am not a god, nor am I even mentally sound at this point, but one thing is certain: I was given a second chance at life, and if I don't embrace it I'm going to forfeit my soul to the cold, lingering certainty that is death. No, I am going to live"

Josh continued down the highway for an unknown period of time, and finally saw the exit which leads to the suburbs where the trash resides. As he finally neared the street, Josh was in a state of emotional turmoil. His mind was is a constant state of unrest. Turning down the familiar street, he finally saw the sign he was expecting.

“Sunny Side Up Trailer Park, how fitting. Home sweet home. It seems the walking dead made their way through here first as they shuffled mindlessly towards the city.”

Signs of destruction were present all around him as he drove slowly. Trailers razed to the ground, half collapsed, or otherwise gone in entirety made their way into his view.

Josh slowly turned the ambulance around and parked in the middle of the street facing the road. He wanted to be able to escape hastily in the event anything goes awry. He didn't spot many zombies, but the few he did shuffled towards him. They looked pretty good as far as as zombies go, as they retained all their limbs and were essentially devoid of bite marks. The only one out of place was a middle aged woman whose eye was hanging loosely from its socket.

“These must have been the ones from the morgue, but at least they were already dead and are probably soulless husks. Better you than me.” Thought Josh, as he clung to his “lucky" second chance at life for moral support.

Josh approached one slowly, but was taken aback as it increased in speed and aggression when he got near. They then quickly tried to take a bite of him as their jaws unhinged.

“Oh Fuck!”

In a desperate attempt to slow the nearest creature, he swung the chair leg at it. The zombie then promptly caught the broken wood and hoisted Josh into the air in a display of overwhelming strength. He then tried to kick the creature in defense, which must have angered it because it tried to bite him. Leaning his body to one side, Josh managed to escape the jaws of death. (Literally) The creature groaned in frustration and confusion, and then threw Josh forcefully.

“Fuck! Shit! Ass!”

In a display of colorful vocabulary, Josh shouted many of the English language's most prized obscenities while gripping his arm. It wasn't broken, but there was a deep gash due to impacting with a very inconveniently placed fire hydrant. Now fueled by rage, he rushed at the abomination and struck it over the head. His face drained of all color as the makeshift weapon simply snapped in two.

“Shit! So much for that!”

Josh now calmly assessing the situation, retreated a good distance away and ripped cloth from the sleeve of his scrubs to clumsily bandage his arm. As he did so, he slowly surveyed his surroundings which led him to notice the top half of a broken flagpole in front of a collapsed trailer. It was not well made, but it was steel and it had a sharp, pointed tip. It was leaps and bounds above his other improvised club. Brandishing his newfound weapon, he approached the trio once more.

“Come on assholes, I know you're hungry.”

Josh now kept his distance after realizing the dead weren't limited by human constraints. As it neared him, his heart was racing and he finally lunged forward.

Critical hit!

Killed - Zombie G.10!

 +1 Greed

Through sheer luck alone he had managed to pierce directly into the fleshy eye socket, which lodged the tip of the spear in the creature’s brain. Josh panted heavily as he retreated backward a few steps.

“I can do this.”

Critical hit!

Killed - Zombie G.10!

 +1 Greed

“One...more.” Josh spoke aloud to no one in particular while catching his breath.

Critical hit!

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Killed - Zombie G.10!

 +1 Greed

Josh finally adopted a sort of battle rhythm once he calmed down, and finished off the other two creatures without remorse. He then fell to the ground exhausted as a plethora of emotions washed over him, but he was mainly relieved. Josh was surprised how exhausting  the entire ordeal has been, but quickly surmised it was due to his lack of physical activity over the last six years.

Finally making his way up to the target trailer, Josh reached his shaking hand for the doorknob. Once more, he was assaulted by emotions and unnecessary thoughts.

*Creeaaak*

The door slowly opened of its own accord as Josh barely made contact with it, which startled him even though he was the one opening it.

“He...hello?”  Josh whispered for some reason, despite his mission's intent.

He was met by only silence and a large pool pool of blood in the kitchen.

“Something already happened here…”

Josh slowly shuffled inside and left the door open in case the need to escape should arise. His knuckles drained of all color as he clenched his makeshift weapon harder than he thought possible. The sun was starting to set, but light still illuminated the walls of the trailer in an eerie red hue through the few windows it did have. Josh made his way inside the living room, but was not expecting what he found. He dropped the spear, fell to all fours, and began to dry heave.

On the ground in front of him was the head of his aunt's “son" staring unblinking into his eyes. He wore a pained expression and you could tell his final moment was not pleasant. It was just his head and spine, after all…everything else was gone. His eyes then wandered to the couch where he noticed what could only be explained as a skeleton. The body was picked clean of nearly all flesh and muscle, but the bony hand  was still clutching the prescription bottle.

“She...she must have been too dru...drugged up to… no...notice the changes.”

Despite attempting to steel his resolve on the way here, nothing could have prepared him for the scene before him. It was then he noticed...him...looming in the doorway to the bedroom with a bottle in one hand and the remains of the boy in the other. It was his uncle.

Devoid of any life, the lingering husk of the drunkard ambled towards him without any semblance of regret. Josh fell backwards and scooted slowly back toward the kitchen while holding loosely onto the spear with one hand. He dared not utter a single sound, but then accidently bumped into the refrigerator when he had nowhere else to go. All manner of tacky glassware began to crash around him and a small glass bell struck him directly on the head, causing blood to trickle slowly down his forehead. Feeling slightly concussed, Josh attempted to stand. After cutting his hand on random colored shards of glass, he finally succeeded.

“No...not like this. I'm...I'm going to live…”

Ignoring the pain in his hands, Josh ran towards his uncle's corpse screaming.

“I'mmmmm...goinggggg...tooo...liveeeeee!”

Swinging his weapon sideways, it collided with the zombie’s head knocking it off balance. Another quick jab to the chest rendered it prone. Not wasting the opportunity, Josh stood above him striking down repetitively. Lost in his emotions, Josh failed to notice the critical hit and kill boxes minutes ago. By the time he regained his senses, he was sobbing uncontrollably and little remained of his uncle's head but mush.

Sidequest - No family of mine Side quest complete!

Even though two thirds of the work was already done for you...lucky.

They will trouble you no more!

Reward: 500 Greed points

“You sick bastard! You think all of this is funny? You think this is all one big fucking joke?” Josh screamed to the sky, but no answer came.

Josh was unable to bear the thought of this horrid place continuing to exist and sought to cleanse it from his memory...both literally and figuratively. Grabbing the almost full bottle of shine from the drunkard’s hand, Josh stuffed a piece of cloth in it. As the cloth soaked, Josh reached for the cigarettes on the table and fumbled to get one out. Walking out of the trailer, Josh trembled as brought the cigarette to his lips. Still crying, Josh lit the smoke in a feeble attempt to calm down, but anything was currently worth a shot. After a brief coughing fit, he threw the cigarette and lit the molotov. Looking one last time at the trailer filled him with no emotion, he was simply empty. He then threw the fire bomb and ensured it wasn't a dud, but his thoughts were for naught as the structure was instantly engulfed.

Josh began to walk towards the ambulance as he noticed the weapon in his hands. The spear was bent, unusable, and the tip was missing. Discarding his weapon, Josh looked to the sky and began to hurry to the vehicle. Night was approaching and he was living on borrowed time. The floating screens had been accurate thus far, and he was not going to be executed like a lame horse when morning came.

The man climbed in and closed the door. Tears still fell from his eyes and he was growing dizzy from blood loss, but he still managed to keep his mind on track.

“One...one quest left.”